The Mysterious Egg

“............Mm......”

Sensing that it had begun to grow faintly light around him, Giovanno woke up.

Morning had come.

“Mmgh............”

He rolled over.

The green smell of the grass covering his bed reached his nose.

If he looked closely, he could see small black bugs wriggling through the gaps in the grass, but he was long past the stage of jumping up in surprise at such things.

About a month had passed since he began living in this Zamago Forest.

Giovanno could feel that he had grown a good deal tougher, both physically and mentally.

“Well, time to get up......”

With a lot of squirming, Giovanno crawled out of his bed.

His bed was a hollow dug into the hill of the base that Emi had cleared.

Logs and leaves were laid over the hollow, forming a roof of sorts, but he would get soaking wet if it rained.

So when it rained, instead of using the bed, he would shelter under the few giant trees left standing at the center of the base.

“Myoogomyogosshugoo! Myoogomyogosshugoo!”

Even though it was still early morning, the Myogomyogoshugo were already singing.

It was hot and muggy.

It was summer.

“............”

Now then, when Giovanno happened to look to the side, there was the figure of a girl standing stock-still, arms folded, feet planted wide on top of a great tree trunk that had been laid on its side as a makeshift wall at the edge of the base, glaring outside.

The girl, whose black hair shone glossily in the morning sun, was naturally Emi.

She was the other resident living in this base.

“Good morning...... is something the matter?”

Emi shot a quick glance at Giovanno as he came over, rolling his shoulders, and jerked her chin to tell him to climb up onto the wall.

As prompted, Giovanno put his foot on the step and clambered up the wall...... and when he saw a certain object on the other side, he was thoroughly bewildered.

“What is...... that?”

“......You don't know either, old man?”

“Hmm...... something like that...... I'm afraid I've never even heard of it. Have you ever seen one?”

“No.”

The object the two of them were looking at was...... an egg-like object, as tall as a person, the brown color of soil.

◇ ◇ ◇

I wonder...... what that is? Omake-sama?

<I don't know. It does seem like...... an egg, though.>

Outside the base's wall...... at the border between the forest and the base, that egg-like object had suddenly appeared, and faced with it, Omake-sama and I were at a loss.

<I'm sorry...... I have watched countless Isekai Reincarnation Broadcasts, but I have no memory at all of an object like that......>

No, Omake-sama, you don't have to be so apologetic.

If it's an egg, in the end, I can just crack it and eat it.

But, the problem is......

<That the egg was laid without Emi noticing at all, isn't it.>

That's the thing.

Normally, I sleep up in the giant trees left at the center of the base, giving off a weak 【Intimidation】 all around me the whole time.

This is to keep monsters away from the base.

They're sensitive to the presence of anything they can't beat, so my 【Intimidation】 doubles as a makeshift barrier.

The old man...... at first my 【Intimidation】 made him look pretty sick, but he seems to be fairly thick-skinned, and he's used to it now.

I sleep up in the giant trees because I figured my 【Intimidation】 would reach farther from somewhere high.

Now then.

Because of that, ordinary monsters don't come near this base...... or they aren't supposed to.

Except when we're hunting with the old man as bait.

And yet......

<And yet, whatever laid that egg deliberately came near your 【Intimidation】, and laid it......>

Is it an incredibly dull creature, or a creature so strong that it doesn't even give a second thought to my 【Intimidation】......?

<And with an egg that size. It must be quite an enormous creature.>

Yeah, that's right.

And yet, though that thing was probably laid last night, I didn't notice the creature coming near at all.

Since I have 【Magic Sensing Threads】 strung along the top of the wall, I can instantly sense any creature trying to get into the base.

This happened outside the wall, so maybe my 【Magic Sensing Threads】 couldn't have caught it, but if a creature big enough to lay that egg had come near, I think even I would have noticed.

<An enormous creature would make loud noises when it walked, and it would give off a strong presence, too.>

But, I didn't notice.

Without my noticing, an egg was laid.

......That creature...... isn't it seriously dangerous?

<I can't deny it. Shouldn't we play it safe now, abandon the base, and flee?>

“Good morning...... is something the matter?”

Ah, the old man's up.

Good morniing!

<This man has an oddly intellectual side, after all. He may know something about that egg.>

True, shall I ask him?

For now, I tell the old man to climb up on the wall.

The old man climbed the wall as prompted, found the egg...... and was bewildered just like us.

“What is...... that?”

“......You don't know either, old man?”

“Hmm...... something like that...... I'm afraid I've never even heard of it. Have you ever seen one?”

“No.”

<Honestly, what a useless man.>

Hmm, Omake-sama's review of the old man, a little too harsh!

Well, anyway, if the old man doesn't know either, there's nothing to be done.

Leaving the hard stuff aside, for now, shall I crack that egg and help myself to what's inside!

With that in mind, I put power into my legs to jump down outside the wall.

......But, it was just then!

<......Wait a moment, Emi! That egg...... it's moving!>

Omake-sama noticed something was off and called out a warning!

“............!!”

I call off my jump too and fix my eyes on the egg.

And sure enough, she's right.

The giant egg...... is trembling!

Something inside the egg...... is struggling to get out!

“Emi! I, it's going to hatch!?”

The old man has noticed too, and shouts, half his body hidden behind the wall.

I know.

I know that already!

I bring both hands up in front of me, in a battle stance.

I release magic power from my feet and use 【Solidification】 on the wall under my feet.

I get ready to step in and leap out at any moment.

Go! Go! Go!

At last, along with the trembling, the egg began to give off a sound like something pecking at the shell from the inside.

At the same time, cracks began to spread across the surface of the shell with a pishiri, pishiri.

<The hatching...... is near!>

And, a few dozen seconds after the egg began to tremble!

At last!

With a paan! sound, part of the shell blew off!

And out of it......!!

“FOOOOOH~~~~~~~!! WHAT A REFRESHING!! MORNING~~~~~~~!!”

Shouting that, a half-naked old geezer came bursting out!!

““<Eh............>””

In spite of ourselves, the old man, Omake-sama, and I were lost for words at the unexpected development.

“Feels good! Feels good! The air is truly delicious!! Fuwa~~~hahahahaa~~~...... Huh?”

The half-naked old geezer who had burst out was moving about energetically, doing what looked like morning calisthenics, but when he noticed the two of us, he stopped dead.

“......Pardon me, a moment!!”

With that, he dived back into the egg, and there was a gasa goso of rummaging.

When he showed himself to the two of us again, the old geezer was fully dressed, now looking every bit the adventurer.

“Well, well! Well, well, pardon me! I, you see, arrived here last night! It was the middle of the night, you see! I never dreamed that the spot where I made my shelter was the edge of a village where people live, you see!!”

As he spoke, the old geezer hopped onto the wall with a lightness that belied his age and held out a piece of paper toward us.

It was a business card.

“My name is, Earthcell! I am one who has been appointed ‘New Branch Establishment Official’ at the Adventurers' Guild! Pleased to make your acquaintance~~~!!”

With that, the old geezer bowed to us.

““............””

Overwhelmed by his energy, old man Giovanno and I look at each other without thinking.

Then we turn to look again at the old geezer who called himself Earthcell.

Small but wiry, the old geezer sports a bushy mustache and has the look of a hermit sage.

His energy is...... a little off, but the presence he gives off is unmistakably that of the strong.

This old geezer seems to be acting alone in the demon realm, and he is undoubtedly strong.

But.

Even so.

That's not the point.

The point the old man and I just couldn't get past was this.

This old geezer, from when he burst out half-naked a moment ago, right up to now, when he's reappeared dressed.

The whole time.

On his head.

A pair of women's panties...... on his head, he was wearing......

This person who suddenly appeared at our base.

He seems to be connected to the Adventurers' Guild, with a post called “New Branch Establishment Official”, but.

Before any of that.

There seemed to be no doubt that he was a perverted old geezer.

A new person has arrived at Emi and the old man's base.

Next time: Earthcell's past.